It may not yet be time to be afraid, but it may be time for concern – and careful observation. President Biden is in Europe and from the results so far, America is in for some hard sledding.
Yes, the Europeans were very welcoming. They gushed about “cooperation” and having a US president who’s willing “to be part of the club,” in the words of France’s Emmanuel Macron. They twittered like mockingbirds over new plan to transfer wealth to crony capitalists and corrupt third-world leaders, naming it the “Build Back Better for the World” plan – still in development, of course; to American bureaucrats and their Eurocrat colleagues nothing is better than a never-ending round of “development” talks. All gabble and publicly-funded flights to ritzy destinations with nothing concrete at the end of it: all process, no product.
This is all depressingly predictable. Of course European leaders will welcome Uncle Sucker back into the fold. He’ll foot the bill for everything and demand nothing in return, just like in the good old days before Trump.
Biden went to Europe with a plan to unite European leaders in a clarion call against China for, among other things, using forced labor to produce exports. But while Canada, England and France took up the cry, Germany, Italy and the European Union apparently didn’t think forced labor was such a bad thing. Furthermore, Germany’s Angela Merkel successfully argued for completion of the “Nordstream II” pipeline, which brings Russian natural gas directly to Europe, thereby enriching Vladimir Putin’s aggressively anti – Atlantic stance and giving Russia the power to freeze Europe in the dark, should they so desire. Someone should have asked Ukraine if this is a good idea.
As an aside, what does one call it when a self-proclaimed anti-global-warming crusader (anyone notice that “climate change” has now replaced “white supremacy” as the number-one threat to our way of life?) waives any sanctions against a fossil-fuel pipeline giving an adversary control over the energy supply of an ally, but immediately cancels completion of a pipeline which would enhance US energy independence? At least two words come to mind, neither complementary.
But never mind. The real danger arises in a few hours, when Biden comes face-to-face with Vladimir Putin, the new Tsar and Autocrat of all the Russians. Already, the indications are not good.
Why would there not be a joint press conference at the end of any such meeting between two powerful world leaders? The likeliest reason is that Biden’s statement has already been written and, like his speech at Mildenhall, has been heavily rehearsed to avoid…misspeaking. Look for vague generalities and commentary about what the Russians were told, instead of what was agreed (doubtless, little) or about Russian responses. If Vlad the Terrible were in the room, this would not be possible. At a minimum he would publicly embarrass the president, similar to what Chinese ambassador Yang Jiechi did to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in their Alaska meeting. Or he could make Biden look incompetent, which would be worse. This cannot be allowed, to look for “…sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Worse, what will happen when the men are across the table from one another? There are no filters in this situation, no interventions from staffers or a helpful missus. And what happens when it’s over?
Make no mistake. Vlad the Terrible is a ruthless, calculating predator. He’s a killer, with a killer’s instincts, a nose for blood and a sixth sense for weakness. If what he sees across the table is a man who just wants to be friends; who wants to get along; who bobbles a word now and then; who sometimes misremembers or pauses a little to long; who, as time goes on, seems distracted; when the meeting is over and the doors are closed, count on Tsar Vladimir I to turn to his generals and say something very like “Gas up the tanks.”
This is already happening around the world. Russia is testing weapons in the Artic and harassing US forces there and in Syria. They are again ramping up support for Ukrainian rebels and are collaborating with China to support Iran’s military. The Iranians are once more shadowing and making feint attacks on US ships in the Persian Gulf. They are backing Hezbollah’s indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel. China is redeploying forces opposite Taiwan and to their artificial islands in the South China Sea.
This is the Sarajevo scenario: a doddering leader at the head of a major power; hungry and unscrupulous adversaries eager to expand; rising tensions and a series of international challenges; then an unforeseen incident and a series of major miscalculations, fueled by inflexibility, fear, indecision, ethnic nationalism and a thirst for revenge. Suddenly, the world was on its way to the butchery of the Somme, Verdun and Passchendaele.
When asked to explain how World War I began, German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg reportedly responded “Ah! If only we knew.” Although inaccurate and a bit too cute, his remark does evoke the lack of clarity and chaos surrounding the outbreak of the War to End All Peace.
But this time we will know.
And this time it will be far worse
